Popcorn and a show
by otpercabeth
Summary: Caleo encounter a guy in a bad mood at the cinema, Leo handles it. One shot, reviews appreciated.


Brian Lacer was mad. He been queuing up for popcorn with his girlfriend when some punk named Leo had just walked up and ruined it all. Ok, maybe it hadn't played out exactly like that, but the essentials were true.

Everything had started out well enough; Brian had been standing in the queue with his arm draped over Lily's shoulder, chatting excitedly about the gloriously gruesome horror movie they were about to see.

"I really hope there's more blood than the last horror movie I went to see" Lily sighed "it was a major let down, I've seen more gore on the Power Puff Girls."

"I don't know, that was a pretty adult show when you think about it. When'd you see this film, any way?"

"Oh" Lily looked away from him, a slight tension coming into her voice "just some friends."

"What friends?" Brian demanded, immediately suspicious.

"I don't know Brian" Lily snapped, crossing her arms defensively "I can't remember every single little thing I've ever done."

"It was George, wasn't it?" Brian glared down at his girlfriend, taking his arm from around her.

"So what? We're just friends."

"No way, we are not-" Brian stopped mid sentence, gritting his teeth. His good mood had evaporated, and now he was just mad. He needed to talk to Lily properly, away from the people who were starting to give them odd looks, but the stupid queue wasn't moving. Brian scowled at the girl in front of them, who was fumbling around with change and looking completely lost.

"Move it would you?" Brian barked at the girl. She was gorgeous, with long sandy hair tumbling down her back and dark eyes. She exuded an aura of gentleness, Brian half expected a halo to be shining over her head. She was dressed for summer, even though it was a few degrees above freezing outside. _What, does she not understand the concept of winter?_ Brian thought. Anyway, no matter how beautiful or nice she was, there was no excuse for being that slow.

At Brian's words the girl turned around shot him a look that of confusion and surprise, her kind demeanor replaced with irritation.

"Sorry, I'm going as fast as I can."

"Yeah, and I'd believe you if you were a turtle, but you're not, so quit holding everyone up."

"Oh, I do apologize" the girl spun around, hand on her hip, annoyed "I didn't realize that you had so many important things to do that you couldn't wait half a minute for popcorn, I'll remember for next time."

"You-" Brian began, but at that moment a slightly built Hispanic dude wandered up with a Macdonald's bag in one hand and a cheese burger in the other.

"Hey Calypso, I promised you the epitome of American consumerism and this is it baby!" he handed her the bag, grinning. It was only then that he seemed to notice Brian.

"Oh hey dude, how's it going? Want a fry?"

"No, I want you and your girlfriend to get a move on."

"Oh my gods Cal, someone finally thought you were my girlfriend! McShizzle's still got it!" he grinned at the girl, who was watching Brian guardedly.

"I'm serious dude, move it or lose it."

"Lose what?" Leo looked confused "our popcorn? Our spot in the queue? Your sparkling conversation? I think for all of those we have to stay right here, so I think we'll just do that. Thanks for the advice though man, you tried."

Brian almost threw the guy across the room, he was starting to become a real nuisance. He settled for shoving the guy in the chest, making him drop his burger.

"Oh man, why'd you have to do that?" Leo looked down the ruined burger in dismay "that was a good burger. Well not good, but decent, you know? And I was onto the second bite, the second bite's always the best bit. The first bite's a bit of a let down because you usually only get bread, but with the second one you get all the layers, and after that the burger starts to fall apart. The second bite is where it's at!"

"Leo" the girl nudged her boyfriend, snapping him out of his tirade.

"Right, yeah, sorry" he looked up at Brian "you got a thing against burgers man? That's un-American."

"What? No! Beat it, you're starting to really annoy me."

"That _is_ my specialty" Leo grinned mischievously. If Brian had been paying attention he might have noticed a change in the boy, a shift from relaxed to tense so slight that it could only be recognized in retrospect. Brian had had enough though, and he angrily grabbed the smaller guy's arm, ready to drag him out of the queue. He let go instantly, the boy's skin had been burning hot, he could already feel a blister forming. In his shock Brian had let out a rather undignified yelp and the entire queue was now snickering at him.

"What, I'm too hot to handle?" Leo winked at Brian, causing anger to overtake his confusion.

"Look here you little punk-" Brian snarled. As he spoke he noticed a dozen little things. Leo seemed to be fiddling with something behind his back. Something scuttled across the floor between them. Something invisible seemed to brush Brian's jean leg. The next thing he knew, his jeans had fallen down. One moment his jeans had been doing their job, as all good jeans should, the next they seemed to have decided that staying up was too much effort and they were around his ankles, leaving his purple boxers for the entire world to enjoy. Brian let out another squeak as he scrambled to pull his jeans back up, tripping over his own feet as he did so. When he had finally righted himself the entire queue was laughing at him, Lily seemed to have vanished, and the boy and girl were standing there, eating their popcorn amusedly and watching him.

"You little freak, I'm going to-"

"Threaten to show off your lovely underwear again?" Leo raised his eyebrow, meeting Brian's gaze evenly. Brian saw something there, something that made him choke on his half-finished threat. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, but were alive with a fire that seemed in danger of becoming an inferno. They were serious eyes, no matter how much the boy grinned and joked, those eyes spoke of loss and hardship.

"I'm going t-to" Brian began again, stammering slightly as his confidence drained out of him "let you off this time. Don't want to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend, might make her realize that she can do better." With that Brian stumbled away, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"Do you think you can do better?" he heard the boy ask the girl.

"For food? Yes, I've seen fungus more appetizing than this burger. For a boyfriend? No, I don't think so."

"You know it Sunshine."

"Oh, shut up. You ready for zombie time?"

"Always."


End file.
